Clippers rout Blazers, keep pace in playoff race

Apr 14, 2007 - 7:30 AM
LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- It's not going to be easy to secure the
eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, but the
Los Angeles Clippers are doing all they can.

Cuttino Mobley scored 22 points and Elton Brand added 20 as the
Clippers used hot shooting en route to a 107-89 victory over the
Portland Trail Blazers, their fifth win in their last eight
games.

Chris Kaman and Corey Maggette scored 17 points apiece for Los
Angeles (39-40), which remained tied with Golden State (39-40)
for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.

"We can't rely on anyone else to do our business for us,"
Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "As long as we win, we don't
have to worry about anything. The worry was you would have
some kind of letdown (after Thursday's win over the Los Angeles
Lakers).

"But in our situation, I didn't think that was going to be
possible. Portland certainly could have played well enough to
beat us, but I knew our effort would be there."

Brand agreed, and the Clippers now are just one-half game behind
the seventh-place Lakers (40-40).

"It was a concern of having a letdown after beating the Lakers,"
Brand said. "But coach quelled that right away. He talked to
us about our task at hand and not having a letdown. (Thursday)
was very emotional coming back from 17 (points) down and the
local rivalry and all that jazz."

Mobley and Brand combined to shoot 13-of-23 from the floor. The
duo complemented each other perfectly with Brand drawing
multiple defenders in the post, creating open shots for Mobley
and other teammates.

Kaman shot 6-of-11 and Maggette was 4-of-9 for the Clippers, who
shot 53 percent (34-of-64) to slowly build a commanding lead.
Los Angeles outscored Portland in each of the first three
quarters en route to a 80-58 lead entering the fourth.

"We wanted to get out on them early," Brand said. "They are a
young confident team and they have guys who can score. We
wanted to get a lead right away. They are a young, well-coached
team. We didn't expect them to roll over, like some teams are
doing right now. We knew they would come out to play. We just
wanted to get the "W."

The Clippers' Sam Cassell played his second game since missing
five with nagging back spasms. However, the guard was ejected
for arguing with the game in hand late in the fourth quarter.
He had eight points in 17 minutes.

Rookie Brandon Roy scored 18 points and Travis Outlaw added 14
for the Trail Blazers, who have lost four in a row. Portland
continues to play without key contributors Zach Randolph and
rookie LaMarcus Aldridge, who are out for the season.

"We try to play the game, whatever role we are in," Blazers
coach Nate McMillan said. "The key is to give effort and
execution to try and win that game. We didn't play well enough
to even have a chance in this game. They controlled the game
from start to finish."